‘Climbing’ was imprecise. What she was doing was nothing like climbing.
Pieces of stone fell from where the woman's hands and feet were hanging. Her fingers and toes were dug into the edge of the tunnel. Fissures spreaded out like spider-webs could be seen. She had gouged her limbs into the solid stone wall, allowing herself to climb up as a foothold.
A woman who would do such a thing could not possibly be a normal human being.
"Ah!? Mons..."
"Silence. I implore!"
Just as one of the party members was about to scream in terror, the woman vanished.
At the same time, the face of the person who opened his mouth disappeared.
In place of his face was a fountain spilling red. Before he knew it, the woman was standing behind the Apostles of the Dawn.
"Huh?"
As more confusion spread internally, another man who was about to scream was pushed into the hole. Similarly, his head disappeared without a trace.
"...Confirming. I only have to. Guide a single person. No more. Is necessary."
As soon as she finished, the woman's figure faded into a haze. There was a red afterglow from the sun setting to the west. She seemed to have melted into the evening background.
But that was just an optical illusion. The woman did not disappear, but moved precisely and firmly.
The sound of something bursting twice in quick succession could be heard. With that, the portion from neck and above were missing from two of the remaining members.
Then an outstretched arm grabbed the collar of the only surviving person, the leader, and carried him.
"Ga, gu, ge...!?"
While he was lifted into the air, not by magic but by simply the strength of her arms, he finally caught full sight of the woman.
Platinum hair that glistened in the evening sun. A statue-like, beautiful yet still expression. A strange armour that covered her body in spots, while boldly exposing her stomach. A metal earflap, that might be thought of as the horns of the devil, grew out from her hair. The hands that left him no room to resist from her strangling were covered in armour, but beyond the armour were unmistakable feminine slender arms. Her eyes were lit in a supernatural gold, dispelling the shadows of the backlight.
An unfathomable monster in the shape of a beautiful woman.
He was forced to understand that this was what he was facing.
(Don’t tell me this thing is…!?)
The leader of the Apostles of the Dawn then gained an insight into how the first member died.
Perhaps, this monster had leapt from her position in an instant and killed the man who had almost screamed.
He hit the nail on the head, but of course, there were no prizes to be gained for that.
"This way. Please."
Immediately after she said so, the sights around him changed rapidly. In such a short span of time unfit to be measured in seconds, his body was carried downwards. Everything was bright red. So rapid was the movement that blood rushed to his head and painted his retinas red. In this world, this phenomenon was still unnamed, but somewhere else it was known as ‘redout’.
"Gah!?"
The mage was slammed onto the stone floor, his neck hurting from the sudden acceleration and deceleration. From the perspective of the relative speeds at which he was carried and laid down, he was actually gently decelerated and brought to the ground. However, that was just from the estimations generated by the algorithms that ran in her. The burden was such that a normal person should have died instantly.
The fact that he was able to endure this proved that he had the ability to be a B-rank adventurer.
He blinked repeatedly, while gasping for breath, opening and shutting his eyelids to restore his sense of sight.
He could discern through his blurry vision, the stone walls, stone floor and from the hole at the roof, the crimson sky. And then, in the middle of the wide area he was in, a monstrosity, with something shining from her back, was looking down at him.
"Are we inside the ruins?"
"I shall. Reply to the query. Welcome, to the Temple of the Sun. You are the. Number 1 guest to be here. Or that is what I would like to say. However..."
The monster stared coldly at him. The expression on her face, which was originally devoid of any emotion, became all the more horrifying.
"I regret to inform you. You fail. As you did not use the proper route, you shall face punishment until the real guests arrive."
Punishment.
The ominous feeling from her words triggered his survival instinct and he was temporarily able to regain the strength to move his body.
"Who would accept that! Fireball!"
With a speed like the vanguard of an adventuring party, he jumped up and casted his magic without the full incantation. He tried to burn the monster with the ball of fire released from his palm.
"...Target attempting to resist, confirmed. Activating sequence to render target powerless"
It was a direct hit, but the opponent did not even flinch.
That’s fine. Chantless casting results in weaker magic, so it was mainly used as a way to contain the enemy. His true goal was what comes after it. He would just need to chant accordingly to raise the effectiveness and level of magic now.
"Oh, thunder spirits! Dwell in my hand and become spears to bring destruction to the enemy!"
He chanted a mid-level lightning spell. It was outside of the four main elements of earth, water, fire and wind, and would take additional effort to use, but the damage it brought was well worth it. After all, this was the spell that did the cyclops in.
"Tch! That spell..."
He smiled triumphantly at the monster’s distraught.
Maybe she was afraid of intermediate or higher level magic, or maybe lightning was her weakness. Either way, his spell could decide the battle. The spell was previously casted in unison with his disciples, but it didn’t mean that he depended on them to use it. Still, it would consume more magic power from him compared to earlier, but it had to be done to defeat this monster.
"No man can escape the violet lightning spears! Thunder Spear!"
The released purple lightning spear struck his target.
For a moment, a bright flash of light illuminated the ruins.
"What?"
The spear dissipated without producing any effect on the enemy.
The woman looked down at her belly, where she was hit, and muttered nonchalantly.
"Damage report. None. Perhaps the same spell. Have different effects from different casters."
"No! I-Impossible! That would have been effective on a rank A monster! No effect at all!?"
There was not a single burn mark on the woman's stomach. Not even a strand of hair had been burned. She was completely unharmed.
His eyes widened in astonishment as he fell to his buttocks. The woman slowly approached him.
"Terminating sequence. Target was powerless from the beginning. ...Time for the punishments."
As she declared, her arm was extended. It was the same destructive arm that killed three of his companions. He could offer no resistance.
Arm strength? Nothing should be expected from a mage in arm strength..
Magic? Impossible. His tongue was frozen in fear, unable to chant any spells.
What about chantless magic? He could not do so while in such panic
Was there any point in him trying to resist any more?
The shivering man’s trousers became warm and wet. The woman cooly announced.
"Please be as loud as you can… Make sure your companions who are outside. Can hear you loud and clear."
* * * *
"……Aaahhhhhhhh!"
A long, trailing scream echoed from deep within the ruins.
They were still concerned with the sudden disappearance of the Apostles of the Dawn and the scream brought their attentions back to the entrance.
"T-That scream was from..."
"It must be the leader of the Apostles of the Dawn."
Gerald nodded in response to Ninon. Due to the great distance between the owner of the voice and them, the scream was largely distorted, but they could still pick up features of it. It had to be that intolerable mage.
"Did the bastard try to get ahead by using magic? But ha! I like that!"
"What are you talking about, Four-Headed Dragon? This basically confirms that there is something disastrous inside the ruins."
Gotsch was thoroughly disgusted by his behaviour. They were adventurers on the same quest, albeit an unusual one. It was highly abnormal to feel joy at their perilous position.
By the side, the members of Ars Longa gathered together and discussed facing each other.
"I suspect they flew up with magic entered through some opening from the top or something."
"Considering that scream, they must have fallen into some trap?"
'Oh no, it must be some kind of ancient guardian! How terrifying! An unknown mystery guardian of the ruins!"
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